Retribution
by Johnwolf234
Summary: When Jaguara orders that a village be destroyed for helping wolves, only a single human child remains. And now he wants revenge On this path he meets many people, both human and wolf, and maybe even gains a new perspective on life. Is Retribution truly what he is searching for?
1. Prologue

_**Hello and welcome, everybody, to my first Wolfs Rain Fanfiction. I would like to thank my friends - Yoshikou for inspiring me to write a wolfs Rain story, and **__**Doragonsureiya**_ for suggesting a name for this story as well as a couple characters.

_**I will be accepting character requests for a while, but not all will be put in and I cannot promise anything. **_

_**Yes, this story is about revenge. But it is also about far more than that. Read to find out.**_

**Wolfs Rain: Retribution**

There was once a village where humans were not blinded by prejudice against wolves. Where wolves were not afraid to visit even without disguises.

It was amazing, and all because one of them had the courage to drop their disguise and argue their case. The small grouped nature of the villagers had given them insight that he had been telling the truth, and the lack of attacks in the area satisfied them that the wolves did not truly want to kill.

It was a happy time, for all of us.

The wolves kept bears and other dangerous animals away, and helped us herd and capture livestock. In return we provided them with food when the hunting got rough, and shelter when the snowstorms were too fierce.

A couple of older wolves even came to live in the village to live out their last years comfortably. They lived with the old lady down high street, I think. Elma, her name was.

But all good things must come to an end.

One day, a Noble grew suspicious of the increases in wolf sightings around the town, and sent some of her people to investigate.

The very next, all hell broke loose.

Her soldiers burned down houses, her airships bombarded men, women and children as they tried to escape. Her hunters ventured into the woods to wipe out the 'wolf menace'.

I still don't know how she found out, or why she attacked so brutally, but I do know one thing.

**Jaguara****. Will. Pay.**

_**Tune in next time for the first chapter!**_

_**Reviews appricated but not necessary :)**_

_**- Johnwolf234 signing off, 'May your pack live on in legend.'**_


	2. Chapter 1

**Retribution **

**Chapter 1**

I jogged through the snow surrounding the ruins of the village I grew up in, feeling it crunching under the heavy boots I had 'recovered' from one of the few soldiers to have fallen from what little defences we had.

I slid down a mound of snow as I moved deeper into the woods outside the town, knowing that the soldiers would not move too deep into the woods without preparations that would lend me time to add to my lead. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do, but I was certain that it would be nothing to benefit the Nobles. '_The Lying, cheating ba-'_

"Hey, there's one! Get it!" I heard someone yell.

I ran towards the voice and skidded to a stop just as I heard a gunshot and a loud yelp.

Ducking under a branch I saw two soldiers in the uniform of Jaguara baring their rifles at a wolf that was now laying on the ground and whimpering.

One of them stepped towards the wolf and aimed at its head, commenting to his partner, "Heh, this is easy. I thought it was supposed to be hard to kill wolves." He chuckled.

"No...please, No..." The wolf whimpered, obviously female.

"Ah, shutup you damn mutt!" Yelled the soldier, kicking her harshly.

"Just shut up and put the damn mutt down so we can go back. I've got a bad feeling about this." His partner said, obviously just wanting to get back to wherever they came from.

_'No. Not one more.'_ I thought, starting to walk towards them, _'No more innocents die today.'_

I started running towards them, drawing the pistol I had taken earlier.

"you've got a bad feeling about everyt-" The first started, just as a bullet drilled a hole between his eyes and the soldier dropped.

"Hey, what the!?" The second exclaimed, just as a bullet ended his life too.

I smirked slightly in spite of myself. Two trained soldiers killed by a teenager? Jaguara must really be scrimping on training.

"Too easy." I said, dropping the pistol back into its holster.

I turned to the she-wolf to ask if she was OK, but even a quick glance showed that she definately wasn't.

Blood matted her brown and white coat, and from the weak whines she was making it was obvious she was in a lot of pain.

'No.' I thought stumbling towards the wolf I now recognized as the young mother that had visited the two only a few days ago.

"Jasmine..." I said quietly, kneeling next to her.

Her eyes flickered open and she quickly found me.

"You... I... know you... From... The village..." Jasmine whispered between pants.

I nodded sadly, "I'm the only one left. Jaguara's soldiers killed everyone else."

She nodded painfully, then started talking again, every word an effort.

"I... Don't... Have... Much... Time... Left... Please...take... Care...of...him." The she-wolfs head fell limp, and her eyes fluttered shut.

"Who?... Take care of who?" I asked quietly, just as I heard a quiet whimper from next to her.

I looked down and saw a little grey wolf pup huddled against her belly, whimpering and shaking in fear.

"Hey, it's alright little guy. I won't hurt you." I said reassuringly. The pup just looked up at me and whimpered louder.

The she-wolf turned and licked the top of the pup's head lovingly, "It's...alright, Tsukikage. Go...with him."

"B-but mum-!" the pup whimpered.

"Please, my son...Go...Go and live on." The mother wolf begged with the last of her strength.

"Take care... of him..." She added, this time to me.

I nodded solemnly and patted her head lightly as she closed her eyes for what I knew would be the last time.

"Mummy?" the pup whimpered, nuzzling her desperately. "MUM!"

I lowered my head in sadness, but I knew the only thing I could do now was follow her last wish.

"Come on, we've got to get out of here." I said after a few minutes, knowing that more soldiers would come to find out why these two hadn't reported back.

"B-but what about mum?" Tsukikage asked, flattening his ears.

I sighed deeply. I'd already decided I wouldn't lie to him, I couldn't betray a pup's trust like that. It didn't make what I was about to say any easier.

"There's nothing we can do for her now, kid." I told him, "... She's gone."

"Where? I-is mum in paradise?" The pup asked innocently.

From what I understood, paradise for wolves was where they believed they went when they died. I wasn't sure about it myself, but it sounded right.

I nodded, "I'm sure she is, and I'm sure she's very happy there. But we have to leave now."

With this I picked up the pup and tucked him into my coat, holding him there with one arm.

Quickly taking an assault rifle and some ammunition from one of the soldiers, I started running again.

Retribution or not, I wasn't letting a pup get hurt in the process.

**- But Meanwhile -**

A family of wolves was hiding beneath a piece of wreckage, two adults and a pup.

"I-is it safe now?" asked the pup, whimpering quietly.

"I think so..." replied his father, nosing round the corner they had been hiding behind.

"Watch out!" Yelled his mate, seeing a soldier behind him.

It was already too late.

The wolf managed to react fast enough to kill that first soldier, but now many others were alerted to their presence.

A massive number of them soon swarmed the wolves, wounding both adults and scaring the pup beyond resistance.

One of them raised his rifle to the father, but another put his hand on the rifle, lowering it.

"You want to die even after all this?" He whispered, "Lady Jagaura said she wanted some alive for her 'business'. And you know how she gets when we don't give her what she wants."

The soldier nodded, instead knocking the wounded wolf out, followed by the mother and pup.

The soldiers carried the wolves into a waiting cage, ready to be loaded onto their airship.

"I almost feel sorry for them," remarked one of them, the others looking at him strangely until he added, chuckling, "Not going to stop me watching the show, though."

They all laughed then, not yet knowing of the monster they were about to create.

**Since it took place here and you'd already asked, Yoshikou, I decided to put the teaser for you character here rather than in a flashback. Hope you don't mind.**

**Two reviews so far, both from people I had already told of this story. Do I care about the lack? Nope. I'm writing this because I want to, if you guys don't want to review then I don't really care.**


	3. Chapter 2

_**I've decided to release this in a different way to how I usually do: to reduce time between chapters, I'll be uploading mostly shorter chapters for this story. Let me know what you guys think.**_

_**Also, I'm changing some things from wolfs Rain to make more sense to me, most notably how the wolves seem pretty free to come and go as they please, despite most humans apparently wanting them dead. Since their disguise is a mental thing not a physical transformation, and therefore does not affect machines, I'm going to do the simple thing here and have this: The guards at the gate have camera's trained on it and someone watching them. Problem solved, and job made harder for our protagonists.**_

**Retribution**

**Chapter 2**

**3 Years after the events of chapter 1**

I slid down the bank of snow after Tsuki, who was enjoying himself by running around and jumping in the snow. He still acted like an oversized pup sometimes.

"Hey, spare a thought for those of us without four legs!" I yelled after the wolf, slipping slightly in the snow.

He stopped and looked back at me, his tail wagging happily.

"Not my fault you're a slowpoke, Connor!" He yelled back.

I shook my head and chuckled, running up behind him as he stopped on a rise. Whatever he said, we both knew he wouldn't leave me behind too far.

Despite the fact I'd once tried to get him to do so.

**Flashback**

_I started walking away from the young wolf, but I couldn't stop myself from looking back and seeing the sadness and betrayal on his muzzle._

_The wolf ran up and nosed my hand, whimpering, "Please don't go, Connor. I don't want to be alone."_

_I sighed and patted his head affectionately, "I know you don't want me to leave, Tsukikage, but it's for the best. Please, don't follow me."_

_This time as I started walking away he didn't run after me, but instead flattened his ears and sat down, whining quietly._

"_B-but why? Why is it for the best?" he whimpered._

_I sighed again, saying without turning around, "I promised your mother that I would keep you safe. I have done, and now that you can take care of yourself sticking with me will only make things more dangerous for you."_

"_What do you mean more dangerous!?" He asked, growling, "We've been shot at, I've been caged, and you were put in jail a couple of times! What could be so much more dangerous than what we have already done to make you want to just leave me here!?_

"…_Bec…." I shook my head and turned to him, "Because I'm going after the Nobles, and you can be sure they'll try every trick in the book - and a few that aren't - to kill me and everyone with me. I can't draw you into that."_

"_That's what this is about?" Tsukikage asked, in a voice that conveyed icy rage, "You don't want me to get involved? Well guess what, I LOST MY FAMILY TOO! I am ALREADY involved!"_

_The wolf ran up and pinned me down, growling in my face.  
"You want revenge, no problem. But stop treating this as your own damn one-man crusade!" He yelled, "I'm with you on this, whether you like it or not."_

"_Ok! Ok, just get off." I croaked from beneath his paws._

_The wolf got off me, his growls subsiding._

"_Alright." I coughed, "Alright, you stay. But no complaining."_

"_I wouldn't dream of it." The wolf chuckled._

**Flashback end**

I shook my head at the memories. It had been stupid to expect the wolf to be happy to sit on the side-lines while I went in by myself.

Of course, we hadn't managed to kill even a single Noble so far, but that was mainly because they were slippery characters, and somehow always managed to disappear before we reached them. We had managed to sabotage some of their plans, though, and that was a start.

"What is it?" I asked the wolf, who was sniffing the air silently.

"I… Don't know. There's a scent I've never smelt before somewhere around here. Kind of like flowers, but... there's something else there too." He said, sniffing again.

I shook my head and started walking again, "Well, we can find out what it was later."

I was stopped when I felt a tug on my sleeve, looking down to see Tsuki with a serious look on his face.

"No, wait. This is something important, I just know it. Trust me on this, ok?" he asked.

I closed my eyes, thinking. We'd gotten a tip about the location of a Noble and following whatever this was would probably make us miss him.

But on the other hand, while Tsuki may not be the most serious wolf most of the time, he didn't joke about the important stuff. If he said this was important, then it probably was.

"Alrighty, then." I said, giving in, "Lead the way."

The wolf nodded and started walking, his head down as he tried to find a scent.

After a minute he started running and I had to sprint to keep up.

Eventually we crested a ridge and saw one of the many walled cities that the majority of humans now lived in, and that almost always had a sizeable detachment of soldiers guarding them.

I turned to him and sighed, "You really know how to pick them, don't you?"

The wolf gave his equivalent of a shrug and started moving again, this time slow enough for me to keep up easily.

As we neared the city I said quietly, "Alright, how do you want to do this? Do we go in together or do you want to find another way in?"

"Let's wait until we can see what kind of security they have in this place first, ok?" He replied.

I nodded and as we got closer I rested my hand on his head to stop him.

"This is close enough. Much closer and they'll probably notice us." I explained, getting out my binoculars from my backpack.

The wolf nodded and lay down next to me.

The binoculars were an old military model, with night vision and a decent amount of zoom on them, as well as an autofocus function.

The newer models could zoom in more, and focused quicker, but these had served me well so far.

I zoomed in to the checkpoint at the entrance and saw something that made my breath hitch.

A brown wolf was inching towards the checkpoint from inside, obviously disguised from the lack of reactions from the humans around him.

But it didn't do him any good.

As soon as the wolf reached the front of the line a guard watching the cameras yelled "That one's a wolf! Get it!"

The brown wolf, of course, heard this and started running desperately, but it was too late as several guards opened up with high-calibre Assault rifles specially designed to kill even a wolf, which could shrug off smaller projectiles unless they hit something vital.

The wolf fell to the ground with a yelp as the first bullet hit, and they didn't stop firing (on full-auto, no less) for almost thirty seconds.

If I hadn't just seen one of my adoptive son's own species get brutally murdered, I would probably have jokingly said something about 'overkill to the next level'.

Tsukikage's ears were pricked, having heard the yelp and gunfire, and he looked like he was about to run over there.

I lowered the binoculars and shook my head sadly.

"There's no point in trying to help now. The poor guy never had a chance." I murmured quietly.

Tsuki lowered his head and whimpered sadly in understanding.

"Well it looks like we have two options here: either we split up and you try to find your way in somewhere else, or we do the whole 'Man and his dog' routine." I said, turning to him.

The wolf looked closely at the guard posts around the perimeter of the city walls and shook his head slightly.

"As humiliating as it is, I think I'll have to go with the second option. Even if I found a spot I could get in undetected, you probably wouldn't be able to and... Well, you know what happened last time we split up in a city." Tsuki said, shivering slightly.

I nodded. Last time he went off on his own a dog catcher caught him and I only found him after several days of him being fed scraps and being kept in a cage with the threat of being 'put down' if no owner was found.

I'd only just reached him in time. No one could blame him for not wanting that to happen again.

I put the binoculars back in the backpack and pulled out a metal studded collar and leash that I had picked up ages ago for just this type of situation.

"Alright, hold still…" I told him, slipping the collar over his head.

The wolf sat still as I tightened the collar around his neck to make sure it would hold up to scrutiny.

"Alright, that should do it. Is it OK for you too or do I need to loosen it a bit?" I asked when I was done.

Tsuki nodded, "I'm alright. It's not uncomfortable or anything, just… weird."

I nodded back, "Ok," I said, taking a deep breath, "Let's go."

We started walking toward the gate, both of us mentally preparing for our separate parts of the ruse.

I got myself into the frame of mind of a wanderer with a dog, and reminded myself I had to treat him as such until we were out of sight, while Tsuki kept his hackles down and trotted obediently next to me, completing the image of him just being a large dog.

As we neared the checkpoint one of the guards yelled to me and gestured towards himself. I nodded and moved slowly towards him.

"Alright, standard business here. Stand still while we check for anything out of the ordinary." He said offhandedly, glancing over to the guard in the camera room, who gave a quick thumbs up to say I wasn't a wolf. That was one obstacle out of the way, now for the next…

"So, is that your dog?" The man asked, now looking down at Tsuki.

I nodded, "Yeah, he is. Had him since he was a pup, and he hasn't let me down once." I said, letting a bit of pride show in my voice. All the best lies had an element of truth to them.

"Bit big for a dog, isn't he?" The man asked, kneeling down slightly.

Tsuki looked down in submission and whined quietly, and as an added little bit I gave him a quick scratch behind the ears.

"So what? He's a big dog, what's the problem?" I asked, knowing I'd have to apologise for this part of the conversation later.

The guard stared at Tsuki a few seconds longer before seeming to be satisfied and standing up again, "Oh, no problem with dogs, you see. We're just making sure there aren't any wolves sneaking in and out of this great city – one tried just a little while ago, so we're all a bit on edge. You and your dog can go on through." He said, waving us through. It was a good job the queues were long today, or they'd probably have done more than check that neither of us were wolves.

I nodded, "C'mon, boy!" I said cheerily to Tsuki, pulling the leash slightly.

The wolf growled lowly in warning but obediently padded beside me as I continued into the city.

Once we were out of sight I sidestepped into an alleyway, checking both ends to make sure we were clear before turning to Tsuki and undoing the collar and leash.

"Alright, we're clear." I said as I did.

"Good," The wolf replied, "-But was that last bit really necessary!? Sneaking in that way is demeaning enough without you making it worse!"

"I'm sorry, Tsuki, but I had to make sure there was nothing for that guard to pick up on. And I'd suggest you turn on your disguise unless you want to be back on the lead – some people wouldn't care if you're with me if you have no collar."

"Put the collar back on then. I'm not pretending to be something I'm not just so I don't get odd looks. No leash and NO doggy talk though, k?" Tsuki replied.

I shrugged and put the collar back on, hiding the leash back in my backpack, "No problem for the first, I'll try not to for the second. I still have to keep up the illusion as long as you're not disguised, and no-one talks to their 'dog' as if he can understand them. No one sane, anyway."

"Only if you absolutely need to. I… Won't say no to another of those ear scratches though." Tsuki said, sounding a little embarrassed about that last part.

I chuckled again, turning to walk out of the alleyway.

"Well let's find somewhere to stay. We can find your flower thing tomorrow." I said, glancing upward to see the sun going down.

The wolf nodded and stood next to me, following me as I found a hotel that had some space available.

Behind us I caught a glimpse of white from a corner.

I blinked and it was gone, but I had a feeling I hadn't been seeing things. That was probably a wolf.

Deciding not to mention it yet, I continued my search.

**At the same time, in an undisclosed location**

Two wolves padded silently through the snow.

The first, a male, had flame-coloured red fur and deep orange eyes, while the other, female, wolf had white fur and yellow eyes.

"Are you sure..." The female asked quietly. "that we're going the right way?"

The make sighed and glanced back at her, "I... I don't know, sis." He admitted, "All I do know is that my instincts are pointing me this way, as well as that smell..."

She nodded, "We're wolves, Meiyo. Following our instincts is what we do, there's no shame in it." she comforted her brother.

"I know, it's just..." Said Meiyo, frustrated, "I..." He almost said 'feel like giving up', but a look back at his sister stopped the words in their tracks.

He sighed, "Thanks, Yuuki. I needed someone to say that." He said instead.

Yuuki nodded back as they crested a rise, and saw a human city.

The two wolves sighed at that, but both knew that whatever they were searching for was inside that city.

_**Hope you all liked it! If anyone is wondering, those two new wolves are from **__**Doragonsureiya**__** and are, like the characters in the traveller, NOT available to anyone else, as they are part of his stories. I got special permission to put them in from the fact he requested me to.**_

_**Thanks to those that have reviewed, and also to those that have viewed but not reviewed. Character requests are still open but from now on it is less likely I will put them in as main characters.**_

_**As always I hope to see you in reviews and the like,**_

_**- Johnwolf234 signing off, 'May your pack live on in legend.'**_


	4. Chapter 3

_**Alright everyone here is the latest chapter of Retribution for you reading pleasure**__**!**_

**Retribution**

**Chapter 3**

**Tsukikage's POV**

As Connor snored from his bed, I got up and started looking for a way to get out of the hotel room. It wasn't that I didn't want him to be involved in this, but I was better at searching quickly and hopefully I'd have a location narrowed down for tomorrow by the time I had to return. Since dog catchers didn't work at night, it was the perfect time for me to make my move.

I briefly glanced at the collar hanging from a peg in the wall, then shook my head.

I'd had enough of the whole pretending to be a dog thing, if someone spotted me without it on, I'd just have to think of something.

Nosing a window open, I jumped to the building opposite and started following the scent.

**Meiyo's POV**

I forced a friendly smile as yet another human passed within inches of me and Yuuki.

We both had our human disguises on, and as I turned to make sure she was OK, I glimpsed her human disguise before my vision adjusted to show her normal wolf body. Her human disguise was a teenager with fair skin and dark brown hair, with green eyes and wearing a grey coat.

I also appeared to be a teenager, with the same skin and eyes but wearing a black jacket with a red bodywarmer, and a red hat.

We both had swords hidden under our clothes, and unlike the rest of the disguise, they actually worked to physically block and make attacks, one of the abilities our pack had once prided itself on.

I ducked into an alleyway and turned to Yuuki, "Right, we're in at least."

She nodded, "Now we just have to find the flower."

I nodded back and was about to continue on when she pulled me back in. I looked at her questioningly.

"Do... Do you think that was really a wolf back there? With that human?" She asked, obviously referring to the collared grey wolf that we had seen earlier, who had been padding obediently next to a human that had almost seemed to see through our disguises.

"Probably," I snorted, "Not that it changes much. He's still that human's pet."

Yuuki shook her head slightly, "I... I don't know. There was something about him... No, both of them, but... I don't know what it is." She said.

I lowered my head in thought, Yuuki had always had these 'feelings' as I usually called them, and they had usually proved correct. If those two had given her one but she couldn't work out what it meant, then that meant they were important - whether they were with or against us was another matter.

"Well I still don't-" I started, being cut off by a voice from above us.

"Talking about me?" Asked the grey wolf, peeking over a rooftop. "I hope it was good." He chuckled, jumping down from window to window and landing softly next to us.

I growled defensively and stepped between him and my sister.

"Whoa there!" The wolf chuckled, "No need to get all growly at me! After all, we're all wolves here." He added cheerfully.

"No, we're the only wolves here. You're just a human's faithful mutt." I replied, scowling.

Yuuki looked nervously between us, knowing that provoking this wolf may be a bad idea but not wanting to interrupt.

The grey wolf suddenly lost his cheerfulness, replaced by a sullen look.

"Ah. You... saw that, didn't you?" he said, instantly knowing what I was referring to. "It's not what you think." He added, his head down.

"Then what is it?" I asked flatly.

The grey wolf sighed before looking up at me.

"I'm guessing you saw me walking round with a human." He said.

"And wearing a collar." I added for him.

"...And that, yes." He admitted, sounding embarrassed, "But I can assure you that I am NOT just his pet." He added, shifting his defeated posture to a confident one.

I was about to reply with the fact that it didn't matter if he didn't think he was a humans pet, but Yuuki stopped me with a subtle shake of her head.

"...Go on." I said instead.

"Ok. Now, where to begin..." He muttered, nodding to himself after a few seconds as he presumably got his explanation in order.

"My name is Tsukikage, and I came from a very special pack. We lived perilously close to a human village, but that was not as dangerous as it sounds," he said, smiling slightly.

"Because we lived in peace with them."

"YOU WHAT!?" I yelled.

"We lived in peace with them," Tsukikage repeated, "And I'll explain how if you'll let me."

I sighed and shook my head in disbelief that I was even considering this, but nodded anyway. There was no harm in hearing him out.

"40 years ago, we were like any other wolf pack," he began, "we hunted our prey, and were hunted ourselves on occasion by humans. But that all changed when one of us went in there without his disguise; a wolf who's mate had nearly been killed by hunters and he was determined to stop anything like that happening again. He went in there to talk, to try to make them see that we wished to be left alone as much as they did. Now, these humans were already distrustful of the nobles and they had already been living in a group that worked similar to a pack for a while by that point. So when they found out these 'animals' they were hunting were just as intelligent as them and only wanted peace they just... Stopped. No hunting, no pulling guns on us..." He said, sounding like he was reciting a story he had once been told.

Yuuki and I paused for a moment. They'd actually managed to make peace with humans!?

"So we did the same in return, promised not to attack them and everyone would have been happy with just that, but that grew even further when one of us came across a human child lost in the snow. We'd only promised not to attack them, not directly help them, but leaving a young one out there to die just didn't seem right." he continued, either oblivious or not caring about our reaction.

"So he took the child back to the town and there we found out something wonderful: this child was the child of the leader of the village, an Alpha if you will. By doing that we now had the eternal gratitude of the most powerful human in the village and the rest finally got to see for themselves the caring side of us wolves, the fact that we care for both our own and other's young just as they did. After that, we slowly got even closer, and an agreement was reached on both sides. We kept other predators like bears away, patrolled the forest around their village for them, and helped with herding their livestock. In return they protected us from any hunters that passed by, either misleading them or hiding us from them, gave us food and shelter when we needed it. Over time the trust between us grew, by the time I was born both sides would willingly visit the other and many of us were friends with them and vice versa. There was even an old couple that lived in town with one of them; they were too old to hunt for their own food anymore and they really felt the cold, so a nice human lady let them and whoever else wanted to stay at her house. I remember shortly after I was born my mother and father took me into town to meet my first humans, and one teenager in particular was really nice to me..."

"-Let me guess, that human you were with is that teenager?" I asked.

"Yes, but not because I decided to be his pet." He said sadly, "Because it seems good things can never last. One day, a merchant caravan passed through and saw one of us, and you can imagine the panic that caused, but that was just the beginning. It seems they told the Nobles of this place where wolves and humans worked together, as shortly after that that a Noble named Jaguara attacked us all." he sighed and looked up at us, his eyes watering, "We all tried to fight back, humans and wolves, but it just wasn't enough..."

**Flashback – Tsukikage's POV**

_I whimpered as I pressed myself up against my mother, both her and dad snarling viciously as humans ran towards us, firing their guns._

"_Mummy, why are the humans being mean!?" I whimpered, unused to seeing humans trying to kill us._

"_These aren't the nice humans from the town, sweetie. It's going to be alright, we'll get through this." She said softly, licking my head._

_Suddenly there was a loud bang, and dad was thrown to the ground, bright red blood spraying from with side. The shot had pieced his heart._

"_Daddy!"_

"_Kevin!" _

_We both screamed as he fell._

_Three humans stepped up to us and raised their guns, ready to finish us off. Just as I closed my eyes, waiting for the end, a two shotguns fired, but I didn't feel anything. Opening my eyes, I saw the two humans that had been trying to kill us falling with massive bloody holes in their chests, two other humans reloading their shotguns behind them._

"_Nobody hurts our friends." one of the new humans spat, as they turned to us and smiled kindly, a sad look on their faces as they saw the dead body of my father._

"_Sorry we're late, Jasmine__. Some of these fucks decided it was a good idea to slow us down." The taller one said with a smile._

_Mum sighed in relief, then whimpered and looked over to dad._

"_Is there... Anything you can do for him?" She asked sadly, knowing it was a long shot but that human medicine WAS capable of saving people even after being shot._

"_I'm afraid we can't bring back the dead, not when they are so badly injured. I'm sorry, truly I am." He replied sadly._

_Mum whimpered sadly, knowing that her mate was dead for good._

"_But we can save YOU. The village has already fallen, more of them will be coming soon. We'll hold them off while you make your escape." The other human said, cocking his shotgun for emphasis._

"_But... what about you?" Mum asked._

"_Our families are already dead. If our deaths are enough to save you two, then it will be worth it." he replied solemnly, "Don't bother trying to change our minds. At least this way we'll take some of them with us."_

_Mum nodded sadly and picked me up by my scruff._

"_... Good luck." She said out the corner of her mouth._

_The humans nodded and Mum started running._

_Only a few seconds later there was a burst of gunshots, followed by the roar of two shotguns and then another burst of gunfire..._

_Five minutes later she started to slow down, exhausted both from fighting and running as fast as she could._

_Suddenly, another human yelled __"Hey, there's one! Get it!"__ and shot, sending us both tumbling to the ground._

_Mum quickly tucked me next to her belly and covered me with a paw, hiding me from them._

_Two humans dressed in black uniforms stepped out, both of them with large rifles trained on mum. I heard her whimpering quietly, and I joined her without thinking._

_One of the pair stepped closer and aimed at her head, __"Heh, this is easy. I thought it was supposed to be hard to kill wolves." _

_"No...please, No..." The mum whimpered, scared of leaving me alone._

_"Ah, shutup you damn mutt!" Yelled the human, kicking her harshly. his foot very nearly hit me and I felt her hug me in closer, crying._

_"Just shut up and put the damn mutt down so we can go back. I've got a bad feeling about this." His partner said, obviously just wanting to get back to wherever they came from._

_"you've got a bad feeling about everyt-" The first started, just as a bullet drilled a hole between his eyes and he dropped._

_"Hey, what the!?" The second exclaimed, just as another bullet blew a hole straight through his head._

_"Too easy." I heard someone say. I peeked cautiously over mum's paw, seeing yet another human, this one in the simple clothes the villagers wore, dropping the pistol back into its holster._

_"Jasmine..." He said quietly, kneeling next to her._

_"You... I... know you... From... The village..." Mum whispered between pants._

_He nodded sadly, "I'm the only one left. Jaguara's soldiers killed everyone else."_

_She nodded painfully, then started talking again, every word an effort._

_"I... Don't... Have... Much... Time... Left... Please...take... Care...of...him." She said, moving her foreleg off me._

_"Who?... Take care of who?" he asked quietly, just as I whimpered quietly, realising that I was no longer covered._

_I pressed myself closer to me mother and started shaking in fear. I knew he wasn't with them, but after what humans had done today I wasn't sure if I wanted to trust one. Then again, those two did try to save us..._

"_Hey, it's alright little guy. I won't hurt you." He said reassuringly. I just glanced up to him and whimpered louder._

_The mum turned and licked the top my head lovingly, "It's...alright, __Tsukikage__. Go...with him." She told me._

"_B-but mum-!" I whimpered, not understanding why she wanted me to go._

"_Please, my son...Go...Go and live on." She begged me, and I had to do what she said._

"_Take care... of him..." She added, this time to the human._

_He nodded solemnly and patted her head lightly as she closed her eyes._

"_Mummy?" I whimpered, nuzzling her desperately. "MUM!" I yelled as loudly as I could._

_"Come on, we've got to get out of here." The human said after a few minutes._

_"B-but what about mum?" __I__ asked, flattening my ears._

_He sighed deeply._

_"There's nothing we can do for her now, kid." He told me, "... She's gone."_

_"Where? I-is mum in paradise?" I asked, remembering where my parents had once said good wolves went to when they died._

_He nodded, "I'm sure she is, and I'm sure she's very happy there. But we have to leave now."_

_With he picked me up and tucked me into his coat, holding me there with one arm. Unsure of what else to do, I just relaxed into the comfortable warmness of the lining._

_I then felt him start running again, to where I didn't know._

**End Flashback, remain in Tsuki's POV**

"-And after that he basically just looked after me until I was old enough to live by myself. When I was he gave me a choice: It was the nobles who had attacked the village and killed both of our families, and he was going to try to get revenge on them for it. I could either go with him or leave and go off on my own. I think it's pretty obvious what I chose."

"And the part where you're on a leash?" The firery-coloured wolf asked pointedly.

I flattened my ears in embarrassment. I'd hoped they hadn't seen that part.

"That was so that we could get in without me being shot." I replied.

"Why didn't you just sneak in on your own then?" He asked.

"...I'm afraid to." I admitted, head and tail down, "Last time we went into a city and I sneaked in on my own I fell asleep waiting for him and the next thing I know I'm in a dog pound. Normally I would've just bent the bars and escaped but I had the bad luck that I was kept in a locked room with a steel door rather than a cage; I guess he didn't have any cages left so he just threw me in a locked room. I spent almost a week in there being fed scraps and threatened before Connor found me. It turned out he'd been searching the pounds since he first realised I was missing, but that place was stupidly well hidden. If he'd been just a few hours later... well lets just say that I wouldn't be talking to you now."

The red-furred wolf looked uncertainly at the white one next to him, and something seemed to pass between them.

"I still don't like this, but I guess we can agree to be civil at least. My name's Meiyo, and this is my sister, Yuuki." He said, pointing a paw first to himself and then the white wolf next to him.

"Pleased to meet you," I replied politely. "Now-"

A howl cut me off, and we all perked our ears to listen. It was a howl of distress. Someone was in trouble.

Several volleys of gunfire erupted, followed by another howl, this one sounding more desperate.

We all glanced at each other, each of us knowing that there was a wolf nearby who needed help.

"We can continue talking about this later, I say we go help whoever that is." I said.

"Why should we bother? It's not like we know them or anything." Meiyo replied, though there was something in his voice I didn't recognise.

"There's a wolf out there that needs help, you do whatever you want but I'm helping him." I replied.

"They both looked at each other again and this time I caught Yuuki nodded to him.

"Fine, let's go." He said, before running up to a wall and jumping up it, towards the sound of the howl. Yuuki was straight after him and I followed them both, wondering who or what we would find.

_**As always I hope to see you in reviews and the like,**_

_**- Johnwolf234 signing off, 'May your pack live on in legend.'**_


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